WASHINGTON -- If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin.

To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president -- and possibly president -- is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan's president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)

And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she's had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).

Finally, Palin's narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain's running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood -- a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn't make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there. Here's but one example of many from her interview with Hannity "Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we're talking about today. And that's something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this."

When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama's numbers, Palin blustered wordily: "I'm not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who's more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who's actually done it?"

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she's a woman -- and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket -- we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can't repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP's unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Congratulations Kathleen Parker. You will be the new darling of the mainstream media and left for the next 48 hours as they use your hysterical knife in the back article against Palin. Hope you can live with yourself.

I like Kathleen Parker. She is usually spot on with her observations. And, while Sarah doesn’t overtly display the “gravitas” so many in today’s journalistic society demand, she clearly is no lightweight.

Sarah does need to change her stump speech, though, because she is just re-hashing her convention performance and it is getting stale.

7
posted on 09/26/2008 3:31:56 AM PDT
by ought-six
( Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)

If she claims that Senator Biden is laughable, where is her call for him to step down? Has she ever seen Senator Obama without a teleprompter? He’s not running for Vice President, he’s the head of the democratic ticket! By the time that they’re elected and sworn in, Vice President-elect Palin will have had almost six months of briefings, instruction and seasoning that she didn’t have in late August. I’d feel much better with her as understudy than with empty suit actually running the country, wouldn’t you?

Unfortunately Kathleen is too often sucked into the vortex of the media elite. People are looking past the media in this election and seeing the character of this fine governor and next vice president. Impressing Katie Couric is not a high priority.

So, Parker wants someone who is 'ready' to handle the Wallstreet problem? Aren't there thousands of smart people with PhDs and JDs from Ivy-League universities work in Wallstreet itself? If the idea that it has to be someone who knows Wallstreet to clean-up the mess, why haven't those smart, intellegent people done anything? Or rather, why did they start this mess in the first place?

Sometimes, an outsider without any 'insider' knowledge can be better than the seasoned one. Especially if the outsider has access to those insider brains that need some fresh leaderships.

10
posted on 09/26/2008 3:32:31 AM PDT
by paudio
(Nobody cried 'racism' when Swann, Blackwell, and Steele lost to white guys in 2006)

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there. Here's but one example of many from her interview with Hannity "Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we're talking about today. And that's something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this."

When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama's numbers, Palin blustered wordily: "I'm not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who's more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who's actually done it?" ********************************************************

Yeah, compared to the "ones" answers to questions..."uhh...uhmmm..uhh...errr...uhhmm, lost my teleprompter, heh,heh..uhhh..." Palins answers were fine. She's a politician and they are wordy. Her answer to the "polls" question was especially good, in my view and frankly I'm at a loss to see what exactly this writer is trying to point out with this article.

The only difference between Biden and Palen in this regard is that the media, including many on the right just assume that Biden has all the answers at his fingertips, even though there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this. The same with Obama. For example when Obama gets any tough question he gets the deer in the headlights look. Biden may be quicker on his feet, but he still spews nonsense. But let Palin hesitate on even one of the hundred gotcha questions she gets during an interview and she is called lightweight.

I kinda doubt a man would get the same treatment.

13
posted on 09/26/2008 3:36:45 AM PDT
by NavVet
( If you don't defend Conservatism in the Primaries, you won't have it to defend in November)

Ms. Parker who did you say you wanted to be McCain's running mate?..oh Guess when Obiden finally cracks up and melts down on national TV and is on his way to the “cookie farm” he might be available..... Ms.Parker write another senseless article when you finally discover what the man child candidate is really all about after 18 months of vetting by the MSM....where does he stand on.....???...ok pick one, and check your archives on what he has said in the past.

15
posted on 09/26/2008 3:37:19 AM PDT
by Doogle
(USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))

(Parker is out of her mind with fear that Gov. Palin will make the difference on Nov. 4.) Parker writes drivel while McCain’s in DC tending to the country’s business, and voters can see that he and republicans are the ones guarding the henhouse. Expect to see a lot more MSM hate and venom in the next few weeks.

“Hi..Sarah..it’s me John..listen..I know you had over 60,000 people show up to see you campaign last week..and you alone energized my base and put the dems on the defensive..but just read kathleen parker..you gotta go..for women’s sake..I hope you understand..I am reaching out and picking hillary..take care my friend..”

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